This is what bugs me about certain referees' interpretation of that rule. It's about the Aston Villa-Arsenal match that I saw last afternoon. A free was called right outside the box. So the Villa players were scrambling to get a wall organized. However, the ref allowed Henry to take a shot before the Villa players would get themselves ready. The consequence? 0-1 Arsenal. I'm sorry but if I were the ref of that game I would have a stricter interpretation of the rule. It was very unfair for the Villa players to have this, not to mention fueling the conspiracy theorists' insistence about how certain teams are favored by the refs. It wasn't like Arsenal needed a favor from the officiating. This individual clearly didn't have the cojones to tell Henry to wait for the whistle. Instead, he went like, "Oh, you want to shoot now? Okay, go ahead." I see this kind of nonsense at Mexican league matches. Maybe he should work there.
Why would you give the advantage to the team which committed thefoul? The defense has NO right to set up a wall. If the kicking team wishes a quick restart it is their option. It has nothing to do with Law interpretation. The only time a whistle is required is if the kicking team requests 10 and their request is granted by the official. It is the defenders obligation to allow, or give ten, NOT the offenses requirement to ask for 10.
What a fundamental missunderstanding of a basic principle of the laws of the game. The defense has ZERO rights on a DFK. They have the right to retire the 10 yards and to look alive and EXPECT a quick free kick in that situation. No conspiracy here except to handle the game by the book. Bravo to the reff and the winning team.
What "RULE" are you talking about? There's no requirement that the team that COMMITTED the foul shoul be given time to set up a wall. Why give advantage to the team that fouled? The kicking team has no obligation to wait for the defense to set up. They may take a quick kick as soon as they want. Once they do, they forfeit the right to 10 yards by the defense. If the kicking team asks for the 10 yards or the refere feels the need to move the defense back, then the kick becomes ceremonial and the attackers may not kick the ball until the referee signals.
The only caveat to the discussion is that once the attacking team indicates they wish to have every inch of the 10 yard rule, they forfeit the quick free kick and play may not be restarted until indicated by the referee. This is brought up in the FIFA Q&A booklet. Arsenal was not concerned with the position of the defenders, and thus neither was the referee. Next time they will be quicker in establishing a defense.
The issue is that Aston Villa claim that the referee had advised Arsenal NOT to take the free kick until his whistle (a ceremonial free kick) and Arsenal took the free kick BEFORE his whistle. If this is true then the referee would have no choice but to disallow the goal and bring Arsenal back to retake the free kick. The referee denies advising Arsenal not to take the free kick until his whistle. Crowdie